The family of Short-winged Birds which is represented by the Ostrich, differs so greatly from all the other long-legged Birds that some Naturalists include them in a separate group, and call them Cursores or Runners. This is an arrangement that has much in its favor, but they seem to be more popularly grouped with the great order of Long-legged or Wading Birds. All the Birds in this family have wings, but so slightly developed that they are entirely unfit for purposes of flight, and are only useful in increasing the speed of their limbs. Their legs are very long and powerful and capable of immense muscular effort, thus enabling them to run with extraordinary fleetness. This group includes the Ostrich, Emu, Rhea, Cassowary and the Apteryx. THE OSTRICH. [Illustration: Ostrich on Her Nest.] The head of the Ostrich is naked and callous, with a short bill, much depressed and rounded at the point; its legs are half naked, muscular, and fleshy; the feet are long and rough, terminating in two toes pointing forward, one of which is shorter than the other and has no claw; the wings are very short, and formed of soft and flexible feathers; the tail taking the form of a plume. There is but one species of the Ostrich; it is sparsely diffused over the interior of Africa, and is rarely found in Asia except perhaps in Arabia. It is the largest member of the family, generally measuring six feet in height, and occasionally attaining nine feet; its weight varies from twenty to a hundred pounds. The Ostrich has been known from the most remote antiquity. It is spoken of in the sacred writings, for Moses forbade the Hebrews to eat of its flesh, as being “unclean food.” The Romans, however, far from sharing the views of the Jewish legislator, considered it a great culinary luxury. In the days of the Emperors they were consumed in considerable numbers; and we read that the luxurious Heliogabalus carried his magnificence so far as to cause a dish composed of the brains of 600 Ostriches to be served at a feast; this must have cost an almost incalculable sum. In former days it was a favorite dish with the tribes of Northern Africa. At the present date the Arabs content themselves with using its fat as an outward application in certain diseases, especially rheumatic affections; and they derive from it, as they say, very beneficial effects. The natives of Africa call the Ostrich “the Camel of the desert,” just as the Latins denominated it Struthio camelus. There is, in fact, some likeness between them. This resemblance consists in the length of the neck and legs, and in the form of the toes. In some of their habits they also resemble each other; the Ostrich lies down in the same way as the Camel, by first bending the knee, then leaning forward on the fleshy part of the sternum, and letting its hinder quarters sink down last of all.